A brain that nourishes our nerves, and can Get goal for goal of youth. Behold this man; Commend unto his lips thy favouring hand; Kiss it, my warrior :-He hath fought to-day, As if a god, in hate of mankind, had Destroy'd in such a shape.
Cleo. I'll give thee, friend,
An armour all of gold: it was a king's.
Ant. He has deserv'd it; where it carbuncled Like holy Phoebus' car.-Give me thy hand; Through Alexandria make a jolly march; Bear our hack'd targets like the men that owe them:
Had our great palace the capacity
To camp this host, we all would sup together; And drink carouses to the next day's fate, Which promises royal peril.-Trumpeters, With brazen din blast you the city's ear; Make mingle with our rattling tabourines; That heaven and earth may strike their sounds together,
Applauding our approach.
SCENE IX. Cæsar's Camp. Sentinels on their Post. Enter Enobarbus. 1 Sold. If we be not reliev'd within this hour, We must return to the court of guard: The night Is shiny; and, they say, we shall embattle By the second hour i' the morn. 2 Sold.
This last day was O, bear me witness, night,3 Sold. What man is this? 2 Sold.
Stand close, and list him. Eno. Be witness to me, O thou blessed moon, When men revolted shall upon record Bear hateful memory, poor Enobarbus did Before thy face repent!
1 Sold.
3 Sold.
Hark further.
Eno. O sovereign mistress of true melancholy. The poisonous damp of night disponge upon me; That life, a very rebel to my will,
May hang no longer on me: Throw my heart Against the flint and hardness of my fault; Which, being dried with grief, will break to powder,
And finish all foul thoughts. O Antony, Nobler than my revolt is infamous, Forgive me in thine own particular; But let the world rank me in register A master-leaver, and a fugitive:
Antony! O Antony!
1 Sold. Let's hear him, for the things he speaks May concern Cæsar. 3 Sold. Let's do so. But he sleeps. 1 Sold. Swoons rather; for so bad a prayer as his Was never yet for sleep. 2 Sold.
Go we to him. speak to us.
3 Sold. Awake, awake, sir; 2 Sold.
1 Sold. The hand of death Hark, the drums
Hear you, siz? hath raught him. [Drums afar eff Let us bear him
Demurely wake the sleepers. To the court of guard; he is of note: our hour Come on then;
Is fully out. 3 Sold.
He may recover yet.
[Exeunt with the body SCENE X. Between the two Camps. Enter Antony and Scarus, with Forces, marching.
Ant. Their preparation is to-day by sea; We please them not by land.
Scar. For both, my lord. We'd fight there too. But this it is; Our foot Ant. I would, they'd fight i'the fire, or in the air; Upon the hills adjoining to the city, Shall stay with us: order for sea is given; They have put forth the haven: Let's seek a spot, Where their appointment we may best discover, And look on their endeavour. [Eren
Enter Cæsar, and his Forces, marching. Cas. But being charg'd, we will be still by laad, Which, as I tak't, we shall; for his best force Is forth to man his galleys. To the vales, And hold our best advantage.
Re-enter Antony and Scarus. Ant. Yet they're not join'd: Where yonder pine does stand,
I shall discover all: I'll bring thee word Straight, how 'tis like to go. Scar.
[Erit Swallows have built In Cleopatra's sails their nests: the anguries Say, they know not,-they cannot tell;-look grimly,
And dare not speak their knowledge. Antony Is valiant, and dejected; and, by starts, His fretted fortunes give him hope, and fear, Of what he has, and has not.
Alarum afar off, as at a Sea-Fight. Antony. Ant. This foul Egyptian hath betrayed me: My fleet hath yielded to the foe: and yonder They cast their caps up, and carouse together Like friends long lost.-Triple-turn'd whore ! 'tis thou
Hast sold me to this novice; and my heart Makes only wars on thee.-Bid them all fy; For when I am reveng'd upon my charm, I have done all :-Bid them all fly, begone. (Erit Scarus
O sun, thy uprise shall I see no more: Fortune and Antony part bere; even here Peace; Do we shake hands-All come to this -The
That spaniel'd me at heels, to whom I gave Their wishes, do discandy, melt their sweets On blossoming Cæsar; aud this pine is bark'd, That overtopp'd them all. Betray'd I am : O this false soul of Egypt! this grave charm, Whose eye beck'd forth my wars, and call'd them home;
Whose bosom was my crownet, my chief end, Like a right gipsy, hath, at fast and loose, Beguil'd me to the very heart of loss,- What, Eros, Eros!
Ah, thou spell! Avaunt. Cleo. Why is my lord enrag'd against his love? Ant. Vanish; or I shall give thee thy deserving, And blemish Cæsar's triumph. Let him take thee, And hoist thee up to the shouting plebeians: Follow his chariot, like the greatest spot Of all thy sex: most monster-like, be shown For poor'st diminutives, for doits; and let Patient Octavia plough thy visage up With her prepared nails. [Erit Cleo.] 'Tis well
If it be well to live: But better 'twere Thou fell'st into my fury, for one death Might have prevented many.-Eros, ho!- The shirt of Nessus is upon me: Teach me, Alcides, thou inine ancestor, thy rage: Let me lodge Lichas on the horns of the moon; And with those hands, that grasp'd the heaviest club,
Subdue my worthiest self. The witch shall die;! To the Roman boy she hath sold me, and I fall I Under this plot : she dies for't.-Eros, ho! [Exit.
SCENE XI. Alexandria.
A Room in the Palace.
Enter Cleopatra, Charmian, Iras, and Mardian. Cleo. Help me, my women! O, he is more mad Than Telaman for his shield; the boar of Thessaly Was never so emboss'd.
To the monument; There lock yourself, and send him word you are dead.
The soul and body rive not more in parting, Than greatness going off. Cleo. To the monument :- Mardian, go tell him I have slain myself; Say, that the last I spoke was, Antony, And word it, pr'ythee, piteously: Hence, Mardian; and bring me how he takes my death.- To the monument. [Exeunt. SCENE XII. The same. Another Room. Enter Antony and Eros. Ant. Eros, thou yet behold'st me? Eros. Ay, noble lord. Ant. Sometime, we see a cloud that's dragonish; A vapour, sometime, like a bear, or lion, A tower'd citadel, a pendent rock, A forked mountain, or blue promontory With trees upon 't, that nod unto the world, And mock our eyes with air: Thou hast seen these signs;
They are black vesper's pageants. Eros.
Ay, my lord. Ant. That which is now a horse, even with a thought,
The rack dislimns, and makes it indistinct,' As water is in water.
Nay, weep not, gentle Eros; there is left us Ourselves to end ourselves.-O, thy vile lady! Enter Mardian.
She has robb'd me of my sword. Mar. No, Antony; My mistress lov'd thee, and her fortunes mingled With thine entirely. Hence, saucy eunuch; peace; She hath betray'd me, and shall die the death. Mar. Death of one person can be paid but once; And that she has discharg'd: What thou would'st do,
Was Antony ! most noble Antony! Is done unto thy hand; the last she spake Then in the midst a tearing groan did break The name of Antony; it was divided Between her heart and lips: she render'd life, Thy name so buried in her.
Dead. And we must sleep :-That thou depart'st hence Ant. Unarm, Eros; the long day's task is done.
Does pay thy labour richly; Go.-Off, pluck off;- [Exit Mardian. The sevenfold shield of Ajax cannot keep The battery from my heart. O, cleave my sides! Crack thy frail case -Apace, Eros, apace.- Heart, once he stronger than thy continent, No more a soldier:-Bruised pieces, go; You have been nobly borne.-From me a while.- will o'ertake thee, Cleopatra, and [Exit Eros Weep for my pardon. So it must be, for now All length is torture:-Since the torch is out, Lie down, and stray no further: Now all labour Mars what it does; yea, very force entangles Itself with strength: Seal then, and all is done.- Eros !-I come, my queen :-Eros!-Stay for me: Where souls do couch on flowers, we'll hand in hand,
And with our sprightly port make the ghosts gaze: Dido and her Eneas shall want troops, And all the haunt be ours.-Come, Eros, Eros! Re-enter Eros.
Eros. What would my lord?
Since Cleopatra died, I have liv'd in such dishonour, that the gods Detest my baseness. I, that with my sword Quarter'd the world, and o'er green Neptune's
Thy master thus with pleach'd arms, bending down
His corrigible neck, his face subdued
To penetrative shame; whilst the wheel'd seat Of fortunate Cæsar, drawn before him, branded
Ant. My good knave, Eros, now thy captain is Even such a body: here I am Antony; Yet cannot hold this visible shape, my knave. I made these wars for Egypt; and the queen,-His baseness that ensu'd? Whose heart, I thought, I had, for she had mine; Which, whilst it was mine, had annex'd unto 't A million more, now lost,-she, Eros, has Pack'd cards with Cæsar, and false play'd my Unto an enemy's triumph.- [glory
I would not see't. Ant. Come the 1; for with a wound I must be cur'd.
Draw that thy honest sword, which thou hast worn Most useful for thy country.
Wherein the worship of the whole world lies. Ant. Lo thee. [Turning from him.
Eros. My sword is drawn. Ant.
Then let it do at once The thing why thou hast drawn it. Eros.
My dear master, My captain, and my emperor! let me say, Before I strike this bloody stroke, farewell. Ant. "Tis said, man; and farewell. Eros. Farewell,great chief. Shall I strike now? Now, Eros. Eros. Why,there then:-[Falls on his Sword.] Thus do I escape the sorrow Of Antony's death. [Dies. Ant. Thrice nobler than myself! Thou teachest me, O valiant Eros, what I should, and thou could'st not. My queen and Eros
Have, by their brave instruction, got upon me A nobleness in record: But I will be
A bridegroom in my death, and run into 't As to a lover's bed. Come then; and, Eros, Thy inaster dies thy scholar: to do thus
[Falling on his Sword. I learn'd of thee. How! not dead ? not dead?- The guard!-ho!-O, despatch me. Enter Dercetas and Guard.
1 Guard. What's the noise? Ant. I have done my work ill, friends: O make an end
1 Guard. And time is at his period. All.
Ant. Let him that loves me, strike me dead. 1 Guard.
2 Guard. Nor I.
3 Guard. Nor any one.
[Exeunt Guard. Der. Thy death and fortunes bid thy followers fly.
This sword but shown to Cesar, with this tidings, Shall enter me with him.
But, fearing since how it might work, hath sent Me to proclaim the truth; and I am come, I dread, too late.
Ant. Too late,good Diomed:-Call my guard, I pr'ythee. Dio. What, ho! The emperor's guard! The Come, your lord calls. [guard, what, ho!
Enter some of the Guard. Ant Bear me, good friends, where Cleopatra bides;
"Tis the last service that I shall command you. 1 Guard. Wo, wo are we, sir, you may not live to wear
All your true followers out. All Ant. Nay, good my fellows, do not please sharp
To grace it with your sorrows: bid that welcome Which comes to punish us, and we punish it Seeming to bear it lightly. Take me up: have led you oft; carry me now, good friends, And have my thanks for all. [Exeunt, bearing Antony. SCENE XIII. The same. A Monument Enter above, Cleopatra, Charmian, and Iras. Cleo. O Charmian, I will never go from hence. Char. Be comforted, dear madam. No, I will not; All strange and terrible events are welcome, But comforts we despise; our size of sorrow, Proportion'd to our cause, must be as great Enter Diomedes.
Help, Charmian; help, Iras, help: help, friends Below, let's draw him hither. Ant.
Peace: Not Cæsar's valonr hath o'erthrown Antony, But Antony's hath triumphed on itself. Cleo. So it should be, that none but Antony Should conquer Antony; but wo, 'tis so! Ant. I am dying, Egypt, dying; only I here importune death a while, until Of many thousand kisses the poor last I lay upon thy lips.- I dare not, dear, (Dear my lord, pardon,) I dare not, Lest I be taken: not the imperious show Of the full-fortun'd Cæsar ever shall Be brooch'd with me; if knife, drugs, serpents have
Cleo. They do not go together. Ant.
Gentle, hear me : None about Cæsar trust, but Proculeius. Cleo. My resolution, and my hands, I'll trust; None about Cæsar.
Ant. The miserable change now at my end, Lament nor sorrow at: but please your thoughts, In feeding them with those my former fortunes Wherein I liv'd, the greatest prince o' the world, The noblest: and do now not basely die, Nor cowardly; put off my helmet to My countryman, a Roman, by a Roman Valiantly vanquish'd. Now, my spirit is going; I can no more. Dies. Cleo.
Noblest of men, woo't die? Hast thou no care of me ? shall I abide In this dull world, which in thy absence is No better than a sty 7-0, see, my women, The crown o' the earth doth melt:-My lord !- O, wither'd is the garland of the war, The soldier's pole is fallen; young boys and girls, Are level now with men: the odds is gone, And there is nothing left remarkable Beneath the visiting moon.
[She faints. O, quietness, lady! Iras. She is dead too, our sovereign.
Char. O madam, madam, madam! Iras.
Char. Peace, peace, Iras.
Cleo. No more, but e'en a woman; and com- manded
By such poor passion as the maid that milks, And does the meanest chares.-It were for me To throw my sceptre at the injurious gods, To tell them, that this world did equal theirs, Till they had stolen our jewel. All's but naught; Patience is sottish; and impatience does Become a dog that's mad: Then is it sin, To rush into the secret house of death, Ere death dare come to us 7-How do you, wo- men ?
What, what? good cheer! Why, how now, Char- mian?
My noble girls!-Ah, women, women! look, Our lamp is spent, it's out:-Good sirs, take [To the Guard below. We'll bury him: and then what's brave, what's noble,
Let's do it after the high Roman fashion, And make death proud to take us. Come, away: This case of that huge spirit now is cold." Ah women, women! coine; we have no friend But resolution, and the briefest end. [Exeunt; those above bearing off Antony's Body.
SCENE I. Cæsar's Camp before Alexandria. Enter Cæsar, Agrippa, Dolabella, Mecænas, Gallus, Proculeius, and Others.
Cas. Go to him, Dolabella, bid him yield; Being so frustrate, tell him, he mocks us by The pauses that he makes.
Dol. Enter Dercetas, with the Sword of Antony. Cas. Wherefore is that? and what art thou, that dar'st Appear thus to us? Der. I am call'd Dercetas; Mark Antony I serv'd: who best was worthy Best to be serv'd: whilst he stood up, and spoke, He was my master; and I wore my life, To spend upon his haters: If thon please To take me to thee, as I was to him I'll be to Cæsar; If thou pleasest not, I yield thee up my life.
A greater crack: The round world should have Lions into civil streets, [shook And citizens to their dens:-The death of Antony Is not a single doom; in the name lay A moiety of the world.
Der. He is dead, Cæsar; Not by a publick minister of justice, Nor by a hir'd knife; but that self hand, Which writ his honour in the acts it did, Hath, with the courage which the heart did lend it, Splitted the heart.-This is his sword,
I robb'd his wound of it; behold it stain'd With his most noble blood.
Look you sad, friends 7 The gods rebuke me, but it is tidings To wash the eyes of kings. Agr.
And strange it is, That nature must compel us to lament Our most persisted deeds. Mec. Waged equal with him. Agr. A rarer spirit never Did steer humanity: but you, gods, will give us Some faults to make us men. Cæsar is touch'd. Mec. When such a spacious mirror's set before him,
He needs must see himself. Cas.
I have follow'd thee to this:-But we do lance Diseases in our bodies: I must perforce Have shown to thee such a declining day Or look on thine; we could not stall together In the whole world: But yet let me lament, With tears as sovereign as the blood of hearts, That thou, my brother, my competitor In top of all design, my mate in empire, Friend and companion in the front of war, The arm of mine own body, and the heart Where mine his thoughts did kindle,-that our
Unreconcileable, should divide
Our equalness to this.-Hear me, good friends,- But I will tell you at some meeter season; Enter a Messenger.
The business of this man looks out of him, We'll hear him what he says.-Whence are you? Mess. A poor Egyptian yet. The queen, my mistress,
Confin'd in all she has, her monument, Of thy intents desires instruction; That she preparedly may frame herself To the way she's forced to. Cas. Bid her have good heart, She soon shall know of us, by some of ours, How honourable and how kindly we Determine for her: for Cæsar cannot live To be ungentle. Mess So the gods preserve thee! [Exit. Cas. Come hither, Proculeius; Go, and say, We purpose her no shame: give her what com. forts
The quality of her passion shall require; Lest, in her greatness, by some mortal stroke She do defeat us: for her life in Rome Would be eternal in our triumph: Go, And, with your speediest, bring us what she says. And how you find of her.
Pro. Cæsar, I shall. [Exit Pro. Cas. Gallus, go you along-Where's Dolabella, To second Proculeius ? [Exit Gallus
In all my writings: Go with me, and see What I can show in this.
A Room in the Monument.
Enter Cleopatra, Charmian, and Iras. Cleo. My desolation does begin to make A better life: "Tis paltry to be Cæsar; Not being fortune, he's but fortune's knave, A minister of her will; And it is great To do that thing that ends all other deeds; Which shackles accidents, and bolts up change; Which sleeps, and never palates more the dung; The beggar's nurse and Cæsar's.
Enter, to the Gates of the Monument, Procu- leius, Gallus, and Soldiers.
Do Cæsar what he can. Know, sir, that I Will not wait pinion'd at your master's court; Nor once be chastis'd with the sober eye Of dull Octavia. Shall they hoist me up, And show me to the shouting varletry Of censuring Rome 7 Rather a ditch in Egypt Be gentle grave to me! rather on Nilus' mud Lay me stark naked, and let the water-flies Blow me into abhorring! rather make My country's high pyramides my gibbet, And hang me up in chains! You do extend These thoughts of horror further than you shall Find cause in Cæsar.
Enter Dolabella. Proculeius,
Dol. What thou hast done thy master Cæsar knows, Pro. Cæsar sends greeting to the queen of And he hath sent for thee: as for the queen, Egypt;
And bids thee study on what fair demands Thou mean'st to have him grant thee.
Cleo. [Within.]
Pro. My name is Proculeius.
Cleo. [Within.]
Did tell me of you, bade me trust you; but I do not greatly care to be deceiv'd, That have no use for trusting. If your master Would have a queen his beggar, you must tell him,
That majesty, to keep decorum, must No less beg than a kingdom: if he please To give me conquer'd Egypt for my son, He gives me so much of mine own, as I Will kneel to him with thanks.
Be of good cheer; You are fallen into a princely hand, fear nothing: Make your full reference freely to my lord, Who is so full of grace, that it flows over On all that need: Let me report to him Your sweet dependancy; and you shall find A conqueror, that will pray in aid for kindness, Where he for grace is kneel'd to. Cleo. [Within.]
Pray you, tell him I am his fortune's vassal, and I send him The greatness he has got. I hourly learn A doctrine of obedience; and would gladly Look him i' the face.
Pro. This I'll report, dear lady. Have comfort; for, I know, your plight is pitied Of him that cans'd it.
Gal. You see how easily she may be surpris'd. [Here Proculeius, and two of the Guard, ascend the Monument by a ladder placed against a window, and having descended, come behind Cleopatra. Some of the Guard unbar and open the gates. Guard her till Cæsar comc.
(To Proculeius and the Guard. Exit Gallus. Iras. Royal queen! Char. O Cleopatra ! thou art taken, queen!- Cleo. Quick, quick, good hands.
[Drawing a dagger. Hold, worthy lady, hold: [Seizes and disarms her. Do not yourself such wrong, who are in this Reliev'd, but not betray'd. Cleo.
What, of death too, Cleopatra,
That rids our dogs of languish? Pro.
Do not abuse my master's bounty, by The undoing of yourself: let the world see His nobleness well acted, which your death Will never let come forth. Cleo. Where art thou, death Come hither, come! come, come, and take a
Most sovereign creature,- Cleo. His legs bestrid .he ocean: his rear'd arm Crested the world: his voice was propertied As all the tuned spheres, and that to friends; But when he meant to quail and shake the orb, He was as rattling thunder. For his bounty, There was no winter in't; an autumn 'twas, That grew the more by reaping: His delights Were dolphin-like: they show'd his back above The element they liv'd in: In his livery Walk'd crowns and crownets; realms and islands
O'ertake pursu'd success, but I do feel, By the rebound of yours, a grief that shoots My very heart at root. Cleo. I thank you, sir, Know you, what Cæsar means to do with me? Dol. I am loath to tell you what I would you sir,-
knew. Cleo. Nay, pray you,
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